Logistics of the First Anglo-Burma War, 1824–1826

ABSTRACT

One of the principal props of British imperialism in South Asia was the British Imperial Army in India. Logistics was important for supplying and transporting the army at the distant theatres to annex new territories and cow down the rebels. The First Anglo–Burma War occurred between the British-Indian Empire and the ruler of Ava in Burma. This conflict, which lasted from 5 March 1824 to 24 February 1826, was an amphibious war. The primary aim of this article is to study the logistics of the British Imperial Army in India, and the secondary objective is to throw some light on the Burmese logistics. An attempt is made in this essay to show the interconnections between ecology, logistics and military organisations of the British-Indian state and Ava. The First Anglo–Burma War can be located at the interface of preindustrial and industrial wars. The animal and human resources of Bengal and Madras presidencies, utilisation of certain indigenous ‘technologies’ (like country boats, rafts, etc.) and technological superiority in gunpowder weapons (both on land and at sea, like gunboats, corned powder, cast iron guns, etc.) enabled the East India Company (EIC) to muddle through and emerge victorious, albeit at a high financial and manpower cost.

KEYWORDS:

• Boats
• Burma
• East India Company (EIC); elephants
• India; logistics; rivers; steamers

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Dr Moumita Chowdhury and Ms Sohini Mitra for providing me with some of the sources used in writing this article. All the usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Black, Logistics, xii–xiii.

2 Turner, Innovative Military Logistics, 2–3.

3 Pachuau and Schendel, Entangled Lives, 188–9.

4 Nath, Climate of Conquest.

5 Quoted from Havelock, Memoir, 8.

6 Butler, Travels and Adventures, 4–11.

7 Lewin, Hill Tracts of Chittagong, 1–12.

8 Madan, Arakan Operations: 1942–1945, 8–10.

9 Roy, War, Culture and Society.

10 Peers, Between Mars and Mammon, 144–49.

11 Scott, Burma, 13–15; Shakespear, History of Upper Assam, 159.

12 Crawfurd, Journal of an Embassy, 319.

13 Symes, Kingdom of Ava, vol. 1, 3; Bell, Burman Empire, 19–20.

14 Extract of a Letter from Mr Adam to the Chairman, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, p. 3, Home Department, Miscellaneous, H/MISC/660, India Office Records (IOR), British Library (BL), London; Extract of a Letter from the Governor-General in Council to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 23 Feb. 1824, p. 16, Papers relating to the Burmese War, Feb. 1825, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (henceforth PP), London.

15 Rivett-Carnac, Armies of India, 217.

16 I must admit that the term British Imperial Army in India is a problematic one. In fact, during the period discussed, few Crown troops were present in India. The East India Company maintained three armies for its three presidencies. All these three armies, besides Indian rank and file who were commanded by commissioned British officers, had some Crown units as well as the units of private European army of the Company. During wartime, the commander-in-chief of the Bengal Army temporarily assumed command over the other two presidency armies. For the sake of brevity, I am using the term British Imperial Army in India. However, when particular units from a presidency army were used, I have mentioned the details.

17 John Byng in the Chair, Colonel John Munro Examined, Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Company, vol. 5, Military, 1832, Para 1204, 1208–9, 1267, National Archives of India (henceforth NAI), New Delhi.

18 Barat, Bengal Native Infantry, 142–44; Rao, Armies, Wars and their Food, 111.

19 Dodwell, Sepoy Recruitment, 42–50.

20 Bradshaw, Thomas Munro, 199.

21 The Army in India, 14–15.

22 Peers, Mars and Mammon, 257.

23 Singha, Coolie’s Great War.

24 Extract from the Government Gazette, p. 51, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

25 Letter to Edward Lee Warner, Magistrate of Chittagong, from Lieutenant-Colonel Shapland commanding Chittagong, Nov. 1823, Letter to Warner from G. Swinton, Secy. to the Govt. in the Political Department, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, Letter to Swinton from Warner, 18 Nov. 1823, H/MISC/662, IOR, BL, London.

26 To the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, 20 March 1824, H/MISC/661, IOR, BL, London.

27 Extract of a Despatch from the Governor-General, 12 Sept. 1823, Discussions with the Burmese Government, PP, 30 May 1825, p. 127.

28 Bullock, History of the Army Service Corps, vol. 1, 93.

29 Military Letters to the Court of Directors 1822, 1 May, p. 137, NAI, New Delhi.

30 Young, East India Company’s Arsenals & Manufactories, 138–39.

31 John Byng in the Chair, Lieutenant-Colonel Watson Examined, Colonel John Munro Examined, Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Company, vol. 5, Military, 1832, pp. 164, 171, 175, NAI, New Delhi.

32 Report on the Proceedings of the Military Board, 30 April 1847, Military Annual Report of the Military Department Board, Bengal, Miscellaneous, 1846–1847, Para 32, 67, NAI, New Delhi.

33 Bandopadhyay, History of Gun and Shell Factory, 3–22.

34 Letters to the Court of Directors, Para 90 and 92, 15 Dec. 1822, 24 April 1822, NAI, New Delhi.

35 Letters to the Court of Directors, 3 Jan.–31 Dec. 1822, Para 83, 29 Dec., Para 84, 29 Dec., p. 214, NAI, New Delhi.

36 John Byng in the Chair, Colonel Salmond Examined, Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Company, vol. 5, Military, 1832, pp. 139, 164, NAI, New Delhi.

37 Buchanan, ‘Saltpetre’, 67–90.

38 Charney, Southeast Asian Warfare, 44–45.

39 Egerton, Illustrated Handbook of Indian Arms, 92.

40 Chowdhury, Empire and Gunpowder, 60–73.

41 Lorge, Asian Military Revolution, 14–15.

42 Extract from a Letter from the Governor-General in Council to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 21 Nov. 1823, Papers relating to the Burmese War, PP, Feb. 1825.

43 Letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, p. 10, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

44 Documents illustrative of the Burmese War with an Introductory Sketch of the Events of the War and an Appendix, compiled and edited by Horace Hayman Wilson (Calcutta: Government Gazette Press, 1827), Document no. 29(A).

45 Quoted from Snodgrass, Burmese War, 95.

46 Harvey, History of Burma, 219–42; Hamilton, ‘Account of Pegu and the Voyage to Cambodia and Siam in 1718’, 101.

47 Return of Ordnance captured at or near Rangoon, May 1824, p. 75, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

48 Bruce, Burma Wars, 18–19.

49 To M. Newnham, Chief Secy. to the Bombay Govt. from G. Swinton, Secy. to the Govt., Fort William, 5 March 1824, H/MISC/661, IOR, BL, London.

50 Hastings, Royal Indian Navy, 20.

51 Quoted from Letter from Lieutenant J. W. Guy commanding the East India Company’s cruiser Vestal to Lieutenant-Colonel Shapland, Chittagong River, 6 June 1824, pp. 53–54, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

52 Tugwell, History of the Bombay Pioneers, 76–77.

53 Maw, Memoir of the Early Operations, 46, 53. The quotation is from p. 53.

54 Sandes, Military Engineer, 252.

55 Letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, p. 34, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

56 Documents illustrative of the Burmese War, Document no. 19(A).

57 Translation of a Letter addressed to the Agent to the Governor General to the Commander of the Burmese forces at Kachar, 23 January 1824, p. 88, PP, Feb. 1825.

58 Extract of Letter from Adam to the Chairman, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, p. 2, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

59 Mackenzie, History of the Relations of the Government with the Hill Tribes, 7.

60 Banerjee, Eastern Frontier of British India, 262.

61 Cachar District Records, vol. 1, 4.

62 ‘Letter of Mr Comstock, 4 March 1835’, 96.

63 Letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, p. 20, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

64 Report of the action at Ramu received from Lieutenant Scott, Lieutenant Codrington and Ensign Campbell, Chittagong, 20 May 1824, pp. 44–47, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

65 Enclosure, Deposition of Sepoy from Arakan, taken on 7 Nov. 1823, H/MISC/662, IOR, BL, London.

66 Letter from Captain Joseph Johnston, commanding a detachment of the 23rd Native Infantry to the Deputy Adjutant-General of the Army, Bhadrapur, 14 February 1824, pp. 15–16, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

67 Ritchie and Evans, Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards, 89.

68 Laurie, Our Burmese Wars and Relations with Burma, 50–51.

69 Pearn, ‘Arakan and the First Anglo–Burmese War’, 28–29.

70 Lieutenant-Colonel S. F. Hannay, ‘Productive Capacities of the Shan Countries North and East of Ava, their Arts and Manufactures; with a Short Account of the town of Bhamo, as seen in January 1836, and its trade with China and the Lower Irrawaddy’, in Selections from the Records of the Bengal Government, no. 25 (Calcutta: John Gray, 1857), pp. 9–19, Assam State Archives, Guwahati.

71 Saha, Colonizing Animals, 1–2. The quotation is from 2.

72 Trautmann, Elephants and Kings, 334.

73 Documents illustrative of the Burmese War, Document no. 21(c).

74 Letter to I. Hays, Judge and Magistrate of Tipperah from G. Swinton, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, H/MISC/662, IOR, BL, London.

75 Robertson, Political Incidents of the First Burmese War, 12–14; Letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, 21 Nov. 1823, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, pp. 9–10, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

76 Anon, Narrative of the Captivity of an Officer, 13.

77 Deposition of Sepoy from Arakan before E. W. Warner, 7 Nov. 1823, H/MISC/662, IOR, BL, London.

78 Documents illustrative of the Burmese War, Document no. 25.

79 Report from Captain T. Noton to the Major of Brigade at Chittagong, Camp Ramu, 12 May 1824, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

80 Letter from Captain Horsburgh commanding a detachment of the 23rd Native Infantry to Lieutenant-Colonel Richards commanding the advance in Assam, Kalibar, 24 May 1824, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

81 Buckle, Bengal Artillery, 381.

82 Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India, 7 vols., vol. 5, Burma, 42–43.

83 Cardew, A Sketch of the Services of the Bengal Native Infantry, 151.

84 Extract of a Letter from Mr Adam to the Chairman, in Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, 20 July 1823, vol. 1, pp. 1–2, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

85 Letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, pp. 16, 20, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, IOR/H/MISC/660, BL, London.

86 Deposition of the Sepoy from Arakan taken before E.W. Warner, 7. Nov. 1823, H/MISC/662, IOR, BL, London.

87 Wales, Ancient South-East Asian Warfare, 190.

88 Letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, Fort William, 21 Nov. 1823, p. 29, Letters from Bengal relating to the Burmese War, vol. 1, H/MISC/660, IOR, BL, London.

89 Extract of a Letter from the Governor-General in Council to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 23 Feb. 1824, pp. 11–12, PP, Feb. 1825.

90 Report from Lieutenant-Colonel H. Bowen commanding in Sylhet to Captain Bayldon, Major of Brigade, Dhaka, Camp Talain, 19 Feb. 1824, pp. 17–19, L/MIL/17/19/26, IOR, BL, London.

91 Extract of a Despatch from the Governor-General in Council at Fort William in Bengal to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 10 Sept. 1824, Discussion with the Burmese Government, PP, 30 May 1825, p. 130.

92 Quoted from Wilcox, Memoir of a Survey of Assam, 27.

93 Extract of a Despatch from the Governor-General in Council at Fort William in Bengal to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 12 Sept. 1823, Papers relating to East India Affairs, Discussion with the Burmese Government, House of Commons, PP, 30 May 1825, pp. 127–8.

94 Extract of a Despatch, 12 Sept. 1823, Papers relating to East India Affairs, House of Commons, 30 May 1825, pp. 128–9.

95 Marshall, Narrative of the Naval Operations in Ava, 4; DeRhe-Philipe, A Narrative of the First Burmese War, 69–70.

96 Low, History of the Indian Navy, 2 vols., vol. 1, 410–11.

97 Letter to G. Swinton from E. L. Warner, 18 Nov. 1823, H/MISC/662, IOR, BL, London.

98 Quoted from Doveton, Reminiscences, 11–12.

99 Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Sanitary State of the Army in India with … Indian Military Stations. London: HMSO, 1864, 9, 17.

100 John Munro Examined, Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Company, vol. 5, Military, 1832, p. 182, NAI, New Delhi.

101 Wilson, Madras Army, vol. 4, 398.

102 Cole and Priestley, Outline of British Military History, 173.

103 Hall, Europe and Burma, 119.

104 Havelock, Memoir, Appendix no. 3, pp. xii-xiii.

105 Sandes, Military Engineer in India, 251.

106 Wilson, Narrative of the Burmese War in 1824–26, 288–89.

107 Butler, Madras European Regiment, 33.

108 Wheeler, India and the Frontier States, vol. 2, 576.

109 Anon, Two Years in Ava from May 1824, 145–46.

110 Peers, ‘War and Public Finance’, 639.

111 Lynn, ‘Modern Introduction’, 183–84.

112 Headrick, Tools of Empire.

113 For the collaboration aspect see Bayly, Indian Society and the making of the British Empire.

114 Wald, Vice in the Barracks, 91.

115 Tarling, ‘Establishment of the Colonial Regimes’, 36.